PS4 dev had to 'play catch-up' to PC graphics

Evolution Studios has admitted that working on PS3 for so long meant that it wasn't exposed to the developments in graphics technology for PCs, meaning it had to play catch-up when moving onto PlayStation 4.

"With it being a very contemporary GPU core, [there's] a whole bunch of new graphics features probably familiar to PC developers, but we've spent a lot of time in PS3 land, so we had to play catch-up on some of those great things like texture varieties, hardware instancing, volume textures, tessellation, texture compression."

I get what you're saying. I feel they should have left the racing Sim to Gran Turismo 6, and focused on building a fun racer seeing how they've recently nabbed talent from every studio that designs "Fun Racers".

Interestingly, apparently they wanted to call this game Gran Turismo and be a spinoff title like Forza Horizon is to Forza Motorsport, but apparently Sony Japan said no (my source for this is the guy who leaked details about this game just before Sony announced it at the PS4 reveal).

Given the way the game looks though, I'm getting very strong Project Gotham Racing vibes from it, which is to be expected I guess since Evolution Studios picked up the lead designer for those games.

I'm expecting DriveClub to occupy the same space as PGR too, whereby it looks realistic but has an emphasis on more accessible and arcadey racing action. It will probably end up being a great IP, but it's unfortunate that they went with such a bland, unimaginative name for it.

It's my understanding that Driveclub is basically a grand touring game, where you have "clans" racing against each other. If that's typical, I've missed every racing game that has done that before. I don't know how the game will turn out, but the idea alone has me very excited.

@sikbeta- iTS NOT ALL FOR NOTHING sony was very smart and learned alot.If you go back to how the cell was designed and how it all played out once real-time development started on games ,you can see the path.The cell chip was really desighned to run on its own to pump raw calculations(physics,lighting, AI,ECT)however due the weak gpu (put in at the last minute)it ending up having to do its own CPU load and helping the GPU with its load.So if you look at it,it might have been two seperate unites but the only way to make ps3 shine was to in-effect program for it like an APU.If you think about it is really impressive that they actually made it work ,considering that it only had one ppu(albeit at the cost of massive amounts of R/D).Now with all that experience and mistakes learned you see why an APU chip is so attractive to Sony-BUT it gets BETTER,Sony has already said they are working on SPU EMULATION SOFTWARE for the gpgpu(called SPU RUN-TIME.So once that is finalized around 2nd gen games,ALL the knowleage learned from cell can now be put to good use on the PS4 gpgpu side and coupled with all that ram and atleast8x more hoarse-power this console is going to kick some seriouse A@@!!

I believe it's the social integration and platform that will...no pun intended...drive the adoption/sales.

Seriously, I'm not a really a fan of the genre anymore. I used to love my dumbed-down arcade racers, like Ridge Racer, but something about this excites me. I think the idea that I can create what is, in essence, a car clan...one that can be integrated into every other device I own, is monumentally thrilling.

I can send out a club notice and race, pick the track, time and conditions, and monitor club participation and performance from my cellphone. When I get home, I can hop right into the event and add in my own time. It sounds exciting to me.

Don't know who sad that, but of course the PS3 is not better than PC in terms of power. It might have been when it released due to the unique-ness of the CELL chip, but even then, it can't really be compared because it can't ever be a 1:1 comparison (also the RSX was out-of-date. But the PS3 can still be better than PC in terms of the many exclusive games.

Most likely will not be popularised very quickly, because it will be used in high end gfx cards, and developers tend to want to target games to a large audience, not a niche "super high-end" market. Also, I'm doubtful that it will even release next year.

See the thing that everyone hates about PC fanboys is that they seem to think $1000 PC is better than a $300 console. Of course it is better, but it also costs a LOT more, so of course it will be better. The second thing is that consoles are mostly static hardware, you can't swap out the processors or GPUs, but you can with PC, so the two can't really be compared. Yet PC fanboys continue to try and force comparisons

And PS3 doesn't have to compete with PC. PCs have never been a threat to consoles whether it's hardware or software.

Not sure why PC fans are so insecure and desperate to put down consoles and PS4 whenever possible. Like someone demanding respect because they think they're bigger and stronger but no one acknowledges it or gives a sh**, so they start acting out.

What does it matter if I just highlighted some old "classic" games? Old and new. Someone directly compared PS3's games catalogue with what games you can play on PC. Hence my replies.

That is an open invitation to point out that PC's back catalogue (and future) is superior to all comers.

If you had to choose one platform to play on for all the rest of your life and only one, PC is the shoe in no brainer. because of the huge quantity of games it'll play past, present, and future.

Just 2 years from now PS3 will be utterly and totally dead as a format and get virtually no worthwhile new games, but PC won't suffer that fate.

Just 2 years from now, most of PS3's top games will be 'old' games. Whats your point??? You still have none!

Those PS3 games you played the past 6 years and bought won't run on the new platform PS4 next year. The PC games you bought the past 20 years will run on a new PC you buy in 5 years time! You can basically guarantee that.

Lets not forget that most of PS3's games will also be dead forever, online, when their servers are shut down. PC won't have all its games still online, but many popular games run for ages or have private servers still in operation!

How old is Diablo 2, or CS: Source, or the original COD on PC? Ancient. You can still get games online.....You'll never be playing Uncharted 3 or GT5 online in 5 years, their servers will be long gone.

PC is unchallenged when it comes to game library.

If you have any useful argument here then lets hear it, but you aren't presenting anything....

Funny how ALL of a sudden you guys got Amnesia, every other article had 20+ fanboys screaming PS3 > PC just like today you got every fanboy screaming PS4>PC.

Hell that stupid Ps3 vs. PC "Grass thread" had fanboys screaming PS3 > PC even though the PS3 game was linear, minor on screen A.I., and mostly scripted while the PC Game that I picked was Open world, 100's of Players and complex A.I..

The Cell was a waste of time and x86-64 architecture proved to be the easiest to program for seeing how PC devs have been using it for years.

PS4 armed with a DX11 GPU will produce great looking games but hopefully with all that CPU power and Ram we can get more OPEN WORLD Games with more complex A.I..

It might get even WORSE on N4G.COM if the Xbox next reveal happens to see that system more powerful then the PS4. If that ever happens you will see SO MUCH BACKPEDALING ON THIS SITE how graphics no longer matter and its all about games ;-)

the cell brought a lot of interesting techniques that most developers would probably love (if they had access to it)..

the PS3's downfall was its relatively weak GPU and its memory...because the PS3 used dedicated pools it should have shipped with more memory than it did...

i don't think anyone is screaming PS4 > PC...but the PS4 will have certain advantages that PC's will not because of its closed hardware...it will never compete with $1000 GPU's...but build me a ~$500 PC and i'll bet the PS4 will beat it easily...

Met the gt680 is around $400. You only need that and the ps4 is beaten. Ram does not beat logic as in CPUs and gpu design just ask intel vs amd. Amd won the gpu battle and intel won the gpu battle.

The argument is pointless though and arguing here is even more pointless. Fans don't follow rational because they are fans. People serious about gaming and tech know the truth. I mean tech people pointed out the flaws in the cell and the use of a fixed shader gpu, etc.

I mean case in point with one gpu who's price will fall again by fall you can now run unreal engine 4 the way it was designed to be ran. Then you can wait on the ps4 to earn your money.

Just choose to let this site implode with Sony fans, even Xbox fans have left mostly lol.

We should indeed get more open worlds and better AI. PS4 is basically like a quad core CPU of a few years ago with a decent GPU. Optimized coding + HLSL should provide it with some great pushes in graphics to match most 2013 PCs with less than 2.5-3 Tflop GPUs, but in 2014 that's another story. GPUs on PC get faster every year. 4 Tflops was unreachable a couple of years ago and now there are 5-6 Tflop GPUs.

@scissor_runner 130W TDP is a red wall that neither Microsoft or Sony want to breach. So 680 might be out of question. Every generation its been 130W or less. X360 GPU breached that and well red ring came about.

NVIDIA 660 on the other hand has 1152 shaders just like PS4 GPU + 2.1 Tflops of power at 130W. AMD also has a mobile GPU at 2.1 Tflops with 1280 shaders at 75W. NVIDIA has similar Mobile offers between 1.9-2.2 with 100+ W TDP. Somewhere between 1.2-2.2 Tflops as a max I am guessing.

Although they say the new consoles are based on Sea Islands so we could see something more powerful. Although it would have to remain under 130W for the console competitors to keep the heat down. Either way I don't suspect either to go to far from one another with performance.

@scissor_runner ,.. yes,.. but you can stuck your gpu in your ass and see how it beats ps4,.. I mean,.. it is not like you need a motherboard, sufficient ram, sofficient cpu ,.. to even utilize it,..to cooling, hdd,.. all the crap that you need for pc to even operate,.. all way too keyboard and mouse.,..Some people,..

You just gave me a ~$400 GPU...what good is that GPU without any other components!?

The PS4 is looking to cost in the ~$500 range...you need to find me a CPU, memory, HDD, mobo, power supply, cooling system, a case, bluray drive, a controller, and whatever else and keep all of that under ~$100!?...

This is where your logic fails. Most people already have a PC so anyone can just stick a GPU in. You're one of those people who constantly go to the argument that a gaming PC was specifically built for gaming PCs.

I'm not saying that's advisable but it's certainly possible. And you could easily scrap your current work PC (which actually might have a pretty decent CPU) and use the current parts for a new one at possibly half the price.

You guys complaining about the gt680 do release it fits in current pci express motherboards right? You can take an old i7 or amd if that's all you got a throw a gt680 in that old pc and you just beat the ps4.

Just wondering why is that so hard to understand?

No I'm not talking about putting it in the next Xbox yet you guys also understand they do make a mobile gt680 that goes into laptops right?

Sorry I made the ps fans angry but I'm just pointing out facts disaggree all you want.

Sony will have to become a real console developer, they are almost there though. Power won't sell the next ps4 and price will provide the barrier yet pc gaming will get easy ports not. So if you don't own a pc then go get a ps4. If you do get a video card.

My logic doesn't fail at all...even if youre going to add the ~$400 card to an existing PC, you STILL have to factor in the cost of the existing hardware...because even of you used existing parts from 2010 or 2011 its still going to cost more than $100 to total the cost of the CPU, mobo, system memory, cooling, case, controller (or keyboard/mouse), bluray drive, power supply, etc...

Idc if you're using the existing hardware...its cost still has to be factored in...otherwise your comparison becomes instantly invalid

consoles innovate and pc just releases the same old cheap flash games wow/ skyrim rpgs and fps. show me some pc stuff that didnt come from consoles first. pc's gimping pc because you all are getting different kind of pc parts. how about you all get the same pc parts morons?

pc actually lucky the console master race even lets them get console multiplat games on there. all japanese games come from consoles. pc only have a about 10-15 franchises that came from pc to console and the console has millions of franchises pc want to steal because pc devs and games suck. call me when pc gets anything on the level f what nintendo brings to the table as far as games let alone ms and sony. thats right pc is the stiff robotic like dancer kid in the clubs who sits in the corner because he cant dance or socialize. the consoles are the dudes dancing and getting the ladies.

That's completely untrue. Especially if you enjoy the developer and genre, TEXT about the game can get you excited or un-excited. Example- Bethesda comes out and says "Fallout 4 will be a on rails Kinect game" people (myself included) would be un-excited for it instantly.

^^You just proved my point. Without seeing any gameplay at all, you deduced that because Fallout 4 was an on rails Kinect game that you wouldn't be interested in it. Similarly, Roccetarius immediately dismisses DriveClub because its not over the top enough. Whether you choose to see it or not, the same concept applies to both of you. Both of you can decide the value of a game to you with seeing little to no gameplay.

I was referencing "Split Second", his comment above. By the looks of your comment above you forgot more than your contacts today.....and who said the game isn't good for him or yourself. I just simply stated Driveclub wasn't Micheal Bay-ish enough for him.

wow the pc is the best you say pissed? Its actually Better than a 8 year old console!? Well i never. So glad Sony has made the ps4 now that will use high end pc graphic procedures for the fraction of the price of a a high end pc set up.

Nope, just read it again. The headline reads 'PS4 dev had to 'play catch-up' to PC graphics', but what the dev is actually talking about is the fact that they were unfamiliar with some of the PC techniques. That's NOT catching up to PC graphics as the headline suggests, that's coming to grips with new tech (two completely different things).

What the headline deliberately suggests is that the PS4 struggles to match the PC in graphics. Think about. It's a crafty headline.